Help Me Find My Coral's Full Potential

[BrandonMc2011]

Hi all! It's been a while since I've posted on the forum but I've made some changes to my system to try to fix my color issues and I'm still lost. My issues involve what I believe to be pale/lackluster colors on some of my acropora. Don't get me wrong, some of my pieces do look nice but others I believe do not. Some pieces simply have an overall pale appearance while others have vibrant tips but fade into white and brown branches. I am hoping that some of the big wigs of SPS corals might be able to lend me some insight in to how I can bring my tank up to TOTM quality.

My system: 150 gallon mixed reef tank (more sps than not) 72x18x27
Sump: 55 gallon tank with 16 gallon refugium(miracle mud, live rock, caulerpa)
Skimmer: Eshopps 150
Lighting: Hydra 52 (x2)(Set to 65CW 100V 30G 20R 100DB 100RB 40UV) 60in ATI T5 (x4 retro fit - 2 blue plus 1 purple plus 1 true actinic)
Circulation: Vortech MP40QD (x2 in reefcrest mode 100%)
Carbon: Chemipure Elite (x4 bags)

Parameters
Calcium: 420ppm (red sea)
Alkalinity: 8.5 dkh (red sea) - (this was lowered over the past few weeks from 11dkh after switching from coral pro salt)
Magnesium 1300ppm (red sea)
pH: 8.1 (red sea)
Ammonium: 0ppm (red sea)
Nitrite: 0ppm (red sea)
Nitrate: 0ppm (red sea)
Phosphate: 0ppm (salifert)

Fish
Melanarus Wrasse x1
Green Wrasse x1
Green Chromi x6
Yellow Bar Chromi x2
Candy Basslet x1
Regal Yellow Belly Tang x1
Hawaiian Yellow Tang x1
Kole Tang x1
Picasso Clown x2
Tomato Clown x1

Feeding
I was informed that I was under feeding my tank and over the past few weeks I have upped my feeding. I feed three times a day with a mix of arctic cyclops, mysis, brine mixed with spirulina, reef pellets, and the tangs get a strip of dried green algae every day. I have also been experimenting with the zeovit products, coral vitalizer, phols extra special, and their high concentrated amino acid. I believe I may have seen some small improvement but not what I was looking for.

Below are some pictures (not the best) of the corals I am talking about compared to some of my better ones in the tank. It seems that the purples and blues are more difficult to achieve than the greens. Please keep in mind that I do not know how to take a picture that best represents the coral in real life color.

If there is any more information that I can provide that may help to come up with a solution please just ask. I appreciate any bit of help that I may receive regarding this issue. I realize that I may be a bit of a perfectionist but I can't help it. I do think my tank is nice but I am really looking for so much more and I know after looking at so many TOTM tanks that it IS possible.

[BrandonMc2011]

Here are just some more shots and please forgive the different appearances they come from different camera settings.

[pstank1]

Cut back on the chemical pure usage a bit while continuing to feed heavily. I'd shoot for a hint of nitrate and phosphate in the tank. That or feed a little more, get some amount of nutrients in the water to supplement your corals diet of light.

[BrandonMc2011]

Hi.
Thanks for the response! I justify my use of ChemiPure due to the presence of soft coral in my tank. I try to keep any chemical warfare to a minimum through its usage. Also, the ChemiPure helps keep my water crystal clear which is good for light penetration. That being said, do you agree that my corals may be underfed? And on that topic I thought it would be better to have particulate food for them to capture and consume as opposed to nitrates or phosphates which shouldn't be usable to the coral itself but to the zooxanthellae. If I am thinking about this the wrong way please correct me but that was what I was aiming for.

[Giovanni]

What type of control do you have? I would want to know how much temps and pH swing. What is your photo period?

[BrandonMc2011]

If you mean controllers I don't have any. My temperature swings from a low of 79.5 to 80.5 in a day. Heaters are actually offline right now so the majority of the heat is coming solely from my light source. I do not own a chiller so all of the cooling is done naturally. In terms of pH from my tests the swing is 0.1 or below. My pH is quite stable at 8.0 with occasional dips to 7.9. I run my skimmer and refugium 24/7 which probably keeps the nighttime pH slightly higher than if I didn't. As for my lights the LEDs start ramping up at 11am. The reach their full percentages at noon when the t5s come on. They all run until 8pm when he t5s go off. The LEDs then ramp down until 9pm.